News Archive

September 2007: On behalf of the University of California, UC Provost Wyatt R. Hume sent a letter to California Senators Feinstein and Boxer (PDF) expressing support for the NIH policy on public access. Writes Provost Hume, "The provision maximizes research impact and dissemination of new knowledge…." In the letter, Provost Hume also echoes sentiments of a recent open letter of 26 Nobel laureates urging Congress to enact this "enlightened policy to ensure that the results of research conducted by the NIH can be more readily accessed, shared and built upon to maximize the return on our collective investment in science and to further the public good."

July 26, 2007:Ithaka survey recommends increased roles for universities in publishing their own research outputs and participating in community-wide publishing systems.

July 20, 2007: House Backs Taxpayer-Funded Research AccessThe U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved a measure directing the NIH to provide free public online access to agency-funded research findings within 12 months of their publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

June 28, 2007: Congressional Panel Favors Access to Publicly Funded ResearchPublic access to NIH-funded research took a major step forward this week with Senate Appropriations Committee agreement to direct the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to require that its funded research be made publicly available on the Internet.

February 2007: University of California Provost and Executive Vice President Wyatt Hume has sent a letter to UC Chancellors (PDF) asking for a formal review of a proposed UC Open Access Policy. Campus and Academic Senate comments are due to Provost Hume by May (complete story).

January 2007:Promise of Value-based Journal Prices and Negotiation: A UC Report and View Forward (PDF)
The UC libraries released a report describing their work on "value-based" prices for scholarly journals. Authored by a task force of the ten-campus library system's Collection Development Committee, the value-based pricing report reflects the UC libraries' collective strategic priority to advance scholarly communication systems that are economically balanced and sustainable. The report details UC's rationale for value-based journal prices and provides models of prices for scholarly materials that are reasonable, transparent, and based upon the value of the material to the academic mission of the University of California. Press Release (PDF)